Push-Away Pull-Ups

Why Is This Exercise So Effective?

This exercise will really work the subscapularis muscle which lies just behind the shoulder. A day or two after you do this exercise for the first time, you will know exactly where your subscapularis muscles are located.

How To Do It

• Grasp the bar as though doing wide-grip pull-ups to the front.
  
  
• Execute the pull-up to the front as usual.
  
  
• When you are at the top of the movement, push your body away from the bar and lower slowly (this is the part that will hurt the next day).

How to incorporate this exercise into your workouts:

This exercise can be done at any time during your workout.

• It may, however, be more effective when done towards the beginning of your session as it does require great strength to hold yourself up and push yourself away from the bar.

Common Errors

1. Coming down too fast as you push away

Try as hard as you can to keep yourself as high as possible as you push yourself away from the bar. It is extremely difficult to do so, especially after a few reps, but it will make the exercise far more effective. If you start to drop quickly before you even get a chance to push away, it’s time to end the set.

Tricks

1. Negative-only reps

Instead of using energy doing the pull-up part of the movement, stand on a bench and place yourself in the top position. Push yourself away and lower from there. The most valuable part of this exercise is actually the negative, so focusing on this segment will not hurt your results.